“Gun violence kills over 30,000 people each year, yet gun-lobby-backed congressmen and women took advantage of procedural tricks to handicap the ATF from enforcing our gun laws,” Beyer said in a release on the bill. “Since the ATF director position was first made subject to Senate confirmation in 2006, lawmakers backed by the gun lobby have refused to confirm the nominees of both Democratic and Republican presidents. This vacuum at the very top severely hampers ATF’s ability to carry out its mission.”

With nine other Democratic co-sponsors, the bill is unique among other recent Republican bills that propose either cutting ATF funding, or abolish it all together.

Meanwhile, each director of the Department of Justice’s other law enforcement arms – the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshals Service, and Drug Enforcement Administration – is nominated by the president and confirmed by Congress. The Senate approves even the head of DOJ’s 400-person Office of the Inspector General.

Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said he thinks the ATF director job should receive the same treatment.

“We believe ATF should be respected and treated like a first rate federal law enforcement agency on par with the FBI and have a Senate-confirmed director,” Keane said.